The classic debate, is ballet a sport?  While ballet requires athletic ability and other skills used in sports, it is not a sport. Oxford Languages defines a sport as “an activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.”

The sole purpose of ballet is not to compete against others or another team but to perform. Ballet is an art form that involves athleticism. A sport does not provoke any feelings or call for any acting ability. This is not to say that ballet is harder than any sport, but it just commands a different set of abilities. Ballet requires an attention to detail that is incomparable to any other physical activity. Ballet is composed of so many different factors that all need to be appreciated. There is of course the dance, but there are also costumes, music, storytelling, etc. This is what differentiates ballet from a stereotypical sport such as basketball or gymnastics.

Ballet takes just as much athleticism and endurance. Ballet dancers are incredibly well-rounded athletes, with as much strength as flexibility. You can rehearse as much as you like but perfection does not exist in ballet. Ballet dancers need enough discipline to dedicate their lives to classes and rehearsals just to know that they will never achieve perfection. One aspect of ballet not being a sport that could be argued are dance competitions. Competitive dancers and ballet dancers are completely different, but there are ballet competitions. Competitions such as the Youth America Grand Prix and Prix de Lausanne are rare examples of when ballet is competitive. It is hard to measure talent in ballet. One dancer might have better musicality, while another dancer is able to do six pirouettes. Both are great, but it is hard to decide who is the “better” dancer just off of those factors. This is an important aspect as to why ballet is not a sport. There are also different styles and techniques of ballet. Balanchine is the American style of ballet that focuses on dynamic movements and musicality. There is also the English style of ballet is mainly centered on strong technique and simplicity. The Vaganova technique is the Russian style of ballet focusing on precise movements. The Cecchetti method of ballet is Italian and emphasizes strong and clean movements. No sport has different styles or techniques, they are all uniform.

All in all, ballet is just incomparable to a sport. It requires a performance aspect that is not seen in sports. The difficulty of ballet lies within the requirement to do something so physically rigorous but make it appear effortless. So no, ballet is not a sport.